We loved the graphics and addicting gameplay of Viva Pinata, which transcended its cutesy and what many would've thought to be kid friendly graphics. Of course not everyone likes to raise animals and grow plants, because some people just like to party! For those Viva Pinata fans who just want to go crazy and party their butts off, get ready to go wild with Viva Pinata: Party Animals.

Unlike the first game, Viva Pinata seems more geared towards the fans of the cartoon series, as this game features the very human acting and talking animals from the series, which weren't portrayed that way in the original game. In the original game the animals acted just like animals, but here they'll hold and eat apples like someone eating corn on the cob, animals that drink soda, a horse that dances like Michael Jackson on two legs, and so on.

Viva Pinata: Party Animals is essentially a party game with four players being able to play various events to see who can finish in first place the most, and in the end net the most amount of candy to stuff yourself with as you can. The game will have at least 50 races and minigames when it ships, with the preview showing more minigames than actual races if that is any indicator of the ratio between the two in the final version.

The races play like your standard kart racer, but instead of cars or other vehicles it's your animal running on the track. In order to run all you have to do is hold the right trigger in, left trigger to brake, and you can jump with the A-button, slide with the B-button, and use powerups or change between them with the X and Y-buttons. The powerups looked to be the staple of many kart racers, featuring speed boosts, oil slicks (honey in this case) and other powerups to blind your opponent with flashes of light or make a gooey colored substance scroll down your screen. The races were pretty tight at times as opponents liked to use their powerups just as much as you probably will, so it wasn't uncommon to fall back to second place after a few well-timed powerup attacks. The courses themselves aren't too difficult, though there are instances where you can run into objects that will slow you down and giant gaps you can jump over with the use of some stationary ramps in place.

The minigames themselves are quite simple and don't require many buttons or advanced gameplay; the game seems to be all about easy to pickup and play games that a few people can come together over and have a good time with at a party. One minigame has you eating apples with you using the left thumbstick to rotate your apple and quickly tapping the A-button to eat and chew as fast as you can. Another minigame has you quickly tapping the A-button to make Ruffians run into each other and drop candy, making the goal of the game seeing who can collect the most candy before time runs out. Other minigames have you beating a piñata with a stick (holding the A-button gives you stronger attacks), using the A-button to hop on ants and collect their candy, and other such one or two button minigames. There's also a minigame where you quickly press the A-button to drink soda and then alternate quickly pressing the face buttons (depending on the ones that light up) to shake your character up and make them burp as hard and long as they can, letting their belch push a sailboat across a pond. The games aren't very difficult, but they are still cute because of the events you are partaking in, and there is a simple charm about them that still lets them be fun despite the ease of use.

Graphically the game looked just as good as the original, as Rare gave up all their creative assets from their game, so the animals still have that crisp and highly detailed piñata look that they did in the original game, only here they are doing more human movements. Environments feature the same level of cartoony style and plenty of background animation, such as seeing other animals cheering you on during a heated minigame. Sound was also excellent and seemed to feature the actual voiceactors portraying the same character that they do on the show in the game.

Viva Pinata: Party Animals is very different than the original game, but if you're of the younger audience and/or can't get enough of the cartoon series on Saturday mornings, then be sure to be on the lookout for the game as it comes closer to its release date.